This invention relates to an ostomy appliance and to a body side ostomy member for use in an ostomy appliance.
Ostomy appliances in which an ostomy bag is connected to a medical grade adhesive pad via a pair of interengageable coupling elements, one element being on the pad and one on the bag are known. The pad is usually adhesively attached to the wearer and need not be disturbed for some days. One successful system is described in British Pat. No. 1,571,657 entitled Coupling for Joining an Ostomy Bag to a Pad which issued to P. L. Steer, et al. Such an arrangement allows a bag to be removed and replaced without detaching the pad from the body of the wearer, thereby allowing the bag to be emptied or drained.
Some wearers suffer pain or discomfort when reattaching a bag or attaching a fresh bag, because it is normally necessary to apply some force in a direction towards the wearer's body in order to interengage the coupling elements. As the peristomal area and the stoma are usually tender, any force applied to the wearer's body gives rise to discomfort or pain. Efforts have been made to reduce or solve this problem by devising constructions which are intended to allow the wearer to place his fingers or thumbs behind a part of the appliance, with the aim of preventing some or all of the force applied to connect the coupling elements from being applied to the stomal region. One suggestion is described in Great Britain Patent Application No. 2,115,288 A entitled Ostomy Appliance and Faceplate Attachment which filed by B. S. Alexander of Sept. 13, 1982. This attempted solution itself suffers from various defects. First, the area of the stomal orifice is restricted, by the inner periphery of a thin annular flexible resilient web which extends into and restricts the aperture. The inner edge of this web, being rather sharp, causes considerable pain if it contacts the exposed stoma. Second, the use of a thin web in the attachment of the bag to the body side pad (also sometimes called a faceplate) has the result that when the wearer is upright the bag tends to drag or droop downwardly. The perception of the user is that the whole arrangement is less compact and secure than other kinds of ostomy appliances. Thirdly, the arrangement inevitably has crannies in which feces can collect.